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Part  of  Exhibit  on  Religions  of  the  World  shown  at 
STUDENT  VOLUNTEER  MOVEMENT  CONVENTION 
Kansas  City,  Mo.,  December  31, i9i3-January  4!  1914 


©ubbbfsm 


“Ibe  that  loeetb  bis  life  for  fin?  sa&e  sball  finb  it.” 


points  of  Contrast. 

Personality,  Human  and  Divine. 


Buddhism. 

Buddhism  started  from  the  Hindu 
pantheistic  conception  of  the  Universe. 
Buddhism  produces 
stoic  agnosticism. 

Morality  apart  from  God. 

Human  Personality  is  a curse  to  be  got 
rid  of. 

Yet  this  conception  tends  to  make  “I” 
centre  and  goal. 

“Bliss  of  all  bliss,  joy  of  all  joys  it  is 
To  leave  behind  the  lie  that  says 
‘I  am.'" 

Personality  passes. 

Deeds  remain. 

Doctrine  of  Karma  non-moral. 


Christianity. 

Christianity  is  built  upon  the  Hebrew 
monotheistic  conception  of  a Personal  God. 
Christianity  produces 
personal  faith. 

Morality  through  the  Spirit  of  God. 
Human  personality  is  a gift  to  be 
consecrated. 

Yet  this  conception  tends  to  make  Christ 
centre  and  goal. 

“ I have  been  crucified  with  Christ  yet 
I live;  and  yet  no  longer  I but  Christ 
liveth  in  me.” 

Personality  developed  in  God. 

Deeds  and  their  consequences  gathered 
into  the  Eternal. 


The  Problem  of  Sin. 


Man  seen  to  be  out  of  harmony  with  Law. 
Hence  the  great  problem  is  suffering. 
Evil  is  seen  as  sin  against  self. 


Man  seen  to  be  out  of  harmony  with  God. 

Hence  the  great  problem  is  sin. 

Evil  is  seen  as  sin  against  a loving  Father. 


The  Way  Out. 


Self  possession. 

“Be  to  your  own  selves  your  own  refuge. 
By  oneself  the  evil  is  done,  by  oneself 
one  is  purified.” 

Extinction  of  all  desire. 

“Those  who  love  nothing  and  hate  nothing 
have  no  fetters.” 


Self-surrender  to  God. 

"Ye  are  not  your  own." 
“Redeemed  by  the  precious  blood  of 
Christ.” 

Implanting  of  holy  desire. 

“It  is  God  which  worketh  in  you  to  will." 


Attitude  to  Life. 


Pessimistic, 

though  with  pity  at  the  heart  of  it. 


Hope  with  suffering  sympathy  at  the  heart 
of  it.  Emmanuel. 


Sad  withdrawal  from  the  world,  uncer- 
tainty, depression,  apathy,  despair. 

Ethics  self-centred,  to  deliver  men  from  life. 
History,  chaos. 


Therefore. 

Glad  striving  for  the  world’s  redemption, 
confidence,  joy,  peace,  fellow-workers  with 
God. 

Ethics  social,  to  fit  men  for  life. 
History,  infinite  progression. 


The  Goal. 


Repose. 

Buddhism  is  futureless. 

Release  from  the  misery  of  existence  into 
passionless  peace. 

Desire  extinguished. 

“Those  who  are  free  from  all  desire  attain 
Nirvana.” 


Service. 

"Thy  Kingdom  come.” 
Deliverance  from  sin  and  misery  into 
abundant  life  in  God. 

Desire  satisfied. 

“We  shall  be  like  Him,  for  we  shall  see 
Him  as  He  is.” 


Northern  and  Southern  Buddhism. 

Gautama  circ.  500  B.C. 

Buddhism  was  early  divided  into  two  great  sections 


Northern. 

Mahayana  or  the  Great  Vehicle. 

Theistic,  optimistic.  Relying  on  super- 
natural help.  Elaborate  ceremonial. 

Less  exacting  moral  code.  Influenced 
by  Persian  and  Greek  thought  and 
later  by  the  Nestorian  Church. 

Found  to-day  in 


Southern. 

Hinyana  or  the  Little  Vehicle. 
Atheistic,  pessimistic  and  materialistic. 
Relying  on  self-help.  A simpler  ritual 
Keeps  closer  to  original  teaching. 


Nepal,  Tibet,  Siberia. 
Mongolia,  China,  Korea,  Japan. 


Ceylon,  Burma,  Annam,  Siam. 


Failure. 

Doing  meritorious  acts  accord- 
to  Buddha  is  like  walking  in  a 
dark  and  empty  house.  We 
are  walking  in  darkness  with- 
out seeing  a light,  a person  or 
a hope. 

A Buddhist  leader  in  Ceylon. 


Hunger. 

Buddhists  everywhere  look  to 
some  Loving  One  — Amida 
Buddha,  Kwan-yin,  Maitra — 
who  by  love  shall  inspire  them 
to  realise  the  high  ideals  before 
which  they  now  sit  helpless. 

A Missionary. 


0 Christ,  thy  love  to  all  the  world 
Ts  Chine  eternal  Cross, 

Trom  everlasting  Chou  hast  home 
Che  sorrow  of  our  loss  •, 

And  on  the  tree  Chy  sacrifice 
hath  shewn  Chy  love  the  life 
Chat,  bearing  sin  unto  the  death, 
hath  triumphed  in  the  strife. 


Che  Rarvest  Law  of  Christ. 

Except  a grain  of  wheat  fall  into  the  earth 
and  die 

it  abideth  by  itself  alone; 
but  if  it  die  it  beareth  much  fruit. 


points  of  Contact. 

Stress  Laid  on  Inward  Character. 


Buddhism. 

“To  cease  from  all  sin,  to  get  virtue 
To  cleanse  one’s  own  heart — 

This  is  the  religion  of  the  Buddhas.” 


Christianity. 

“Create  in  me  a clean  heart,  0 God, 
and  renew  a right  spirit  within  me.' 


Stress  Laid  on  the  Passive  Virtues. 


‘Let  a man  overcome  anger  by  love,  evil 
by  good,  the  greedy  by  liberality,  the 
liar  by  truth.” 


“Love  your  enemies,  bless  them  that 
curse  you. 

Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit. 

Blessed  are  the  meek. 

Blessed  are  they  which  do  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness. 

Blessed  are  the  merciful. 

Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart. 

Blessed  are  the  peacemakers." 


Renunciation  and  Self-Sacrifice. 


11  Let  all  the  sins  that  have  been  committed 
in  this  Age  fall  on  me  and  let  the 
world  be  delivered.” 

Buddha. 

‘Who  is  he  that  would  demur  when  the 
salvation  of  the  world  is  at  stake?” 
An  early  Buddhist  Missionary. 


“God  so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave  Hi9 
only  begotten  Son  that  whosoever 
believeth  on  Him  should  not  perish 
but  have  everlasting  life.” 
“Whosoever  renounceth  not  all  that  he 
hath  cannot  be  My  disciple.” 


Self-Discipline. 


“If  one  man  conquer  in  battle  a thousand 
times  a thousand  men,  and  if  another 
conquer  himself,  he  is  the  greatest  of 
conquerors.” 


“The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  self-control.” 
“Watch  and  pray  that  ye  enter  not  into 
temptation." 


Cbc  Law  of  Rarvest. 

Whatsoever  a man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap. 

But 


‘Not  in  all  the  mighty  mountains  nor  in 
the  great  continent  will  you  find  so 
much  room  for  forgiveness  as  you  find 
at  the  end  of  a hair.” 


“There  is  forgiveness  with  Thee  that  Thou 
mayest  be  feared." 

“Faithful  and  righteous  to  forgive.” 


jvnasionary  Hctmty. 

The  ground  lost  by  Southern  Buddhism  in  India  through  Brahman  persecution  and  Mo- 
hammedan invasion  was  more  than  regained  in  Central  and  Eastern  Asia  by  the  mis- 
sionary activity  of  the  Northern  Buddhists. 

Northern  Buddhism  has  been  a missionary  religion  but  it  has  compromised  by  its  degrada- 
tion with  Animistic  thought  and  practice,  and  is  now  broken  up  into  many  sects.  In  Japan 
it  was  for  i,ooo  years  amalgamated  with  Shinto. 

Hmida  Beets. 

Three-quarters  of  the  Buddhists  of  Japan,  belonging  to  the  two  great  sects,  Jodo  and  Shin, 
and  most  of  those  of  China,  Korea  and  Central  Asia  worship  Amitabha  (or  Amida)  Buddha. 
They  assume  an  Immanent  God  or  Divine  Presence,  manifesting  itself  in  Buddhas,  trust  in 
Amida,  a pitiful  Saviour,  as  their  central  object  of  faith,  and  believe  that  by  faith  in  his 
name  they  will  enter  the  “Western  Paradise.” 


Part  of  Exhibit  on  Religions  of  the  World  shown  at  Student  Volunteer  Movement  Convention, 

Kansas  City,  Mo.,  December  31,  1913-January  4,  1914. 


Reference  books  suggested: 

Copleston,  R.  S.,  Buddhism  Primitive  and  Present  in  Magadha  and  Ceylon.  (2nd  Edition,  revised.) 
Davids,  T.  W.  Rhys,  Buddhism. 

Lloyd,  Arthur,  The  Creed  of  Half  Japan. 

Saunders,  K.  J..  Budchist  Ideals. 


